Unleashing $65M into the Midwest Tech Ecosystem

Aug31, 2016

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Today, we are thrilled to announce the close of our second venture fundof $65M to continue fueling high-growth tech across the Midwest. This brings the total assets under management for our team at Hyde Park Venture Partners to $90M.

Ira Weiss, partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners (HPVP), said, “We feel quite fortunate to be in this position, because it is somewhat unprecedented for a venture capital firm to triple its assets under management in just a few short years. We are inspired by the trust that our investors have displayed in us. Together, we are excited to continue building on our shared vision of supporting the best and brightest founders in the Midwest.”

With the close of the second fund, we have scaled our team’s capacity to support entrepreneurs and meet the explosion of growth in the Midwest tech ecosystem. In March of 2015, Tim Kopp joined the partnership, having most recently served as the Chief Marketing Officer of ExactTarget. Upon Tim joining, we opened our second office in Indianapolis. In November of 2015, Jackson Troxel joined to help anchor marketing efforts. Most recently, we welcomed Jackie DiMonte to our investment team, comprised of Guy Turner, Ira Weiss, Tim Kopp, and Greg Barnes. Additionally, we have massive in-house support from Nancy Corrie, our Chief Financial Officer, and Beth Spyratos, our Office Manager, who help keep the train on the tracks on a daily basis.

Our team remains very active around the Midwest (and beyond) through the help of our supportive advisor network. Specifically, we are pleased to announce a strong new group of advisors with extensive operating experience. This group includes Dave Knox (CMO of Rockfish Interactive), Mike Fitzgerald (Partner, High Alpha), and Todd Richardson (Former EVP, HR at ExactTarget). These domain experts join an accomplished group of advisors from our first fund, including Sam Yagan (Founder of Match.com), Gregg Kaplan (founder and former CEO of RedBox), Jim Gagnard (former Chairman, CEO of SmartSignal), Steve Farsht (Managing Director Corazon Capital), Steve Julius (Former Chicago Bulls Director of Player Development, Sports Psychologist ), Armando Pauker (General Partner, Apex Venture Partners), and Wayne Boulais (General Partner, Apex Venture Partners).

Through the expertise of our partners, and by tapping into our advisors’ vast operating backgrounds, we are committed to accelerating startups through Series Seed to Series B rounds of financing.

“Every member of the team at HPVP has chosen each other and Midwest tech as our pursuit and passion” said Guy Turner. “That is a big responsibility but also the opportunity of a lifetime to build something incredible. I am incredibly proud of the team we have built. We look forward to taking the fund to the next level.”

The investment team leverages its 30+ years of investing experience, network, and operating experience to focus sales and marketing expertise, go-to market strategy, and talent development. We recognize how important hiring talented people and getting early traction is to the success of early stage startups.

“It is an incredible honor to work alongside the best entrepreneurs in the Midwest,” said Tim Kopp. “We believe there’s no better place than the Midwest to base our activity. I consider it the ‘triple-bottom line’ because we are not only focused on driving great returns to the shareholders, but also building up the tech ecosystem while creating winning communities.”